Hi, crafty friends! It’s a well known fact that I’m a sucker for penguins, so I was over the moon for this month’s release from Rachelle Anne Miller. It’s the Penguin Party scene creator set, which is geared toward celebrations with balloons, party hats, presents and little pennant flags. I created a birthday card with this set earlier in the month. Today, I chose a penguin that doesn’t have any accessories besides a scarf and created a holiday card.
I colored my penguin with Copics, fussy cut him and used a black Glaze pen to add shine to his eyes, before putting him aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
I really wanted to use the big MERRY greeting in the Merry Trees stamp set from Kristina Werner. I love her cleanly designed products, they’re right up my alley, and this greeting makes a statement. I stamped with VersaMark onto Juniper cardstock from Concord & 9th, before sprinkling on super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger, which I then heat set. I die cut an additional four layers of the letters from white cardstock and stacked them with the green on top.
I used the Berries & Boughs embossing folder from Concord & 9th to create a little bit of interest to the background. I trimmed my white dry embossed panel slightly and adhered it to a black cardstock panel that I adhered to a top fold white card base. I arranged my merry letters on the front of the card, added my penguin with foam tape and also added a white on black heat embossed sub sentiment from the Christmas Greetings stamp set from Lili of the Valley.
I added a few pearls from the Glossy Porcelain mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to finish. I love how I was able to turn this cute party penguin into a holiday penguin, and I’m kind of liking the untraditional Christmas palette of green and black.
I messed around with a few greens to find the right combo to somewhat match my green cardstock. If it hadn’t been for that, this would have been a very limited color palette.
I colored the images with Copics, then used the Postage Collage die from Waffle Flower to create stamps.
I added Solar Paste in the Golden Hour color onto Lemon Tart cardstock from Papertrey Ink using the Merry Go Round stencil from Memory Box. I wanted a little bit of interest in the background, but nothing too distracting, and this worked really well. I added the panel to a top fold white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink.
I added scraps of cardstock behind my die cuts to give them a little lift off my card and adhered them pretty much in the center of the card.
I stamped a sentiment from the Anything-but Basic Birthday Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things onto Spring Rain cardstock from Papertrey Ink using Obsidian ink from Altenew. I cut the sentiment down to a strip and added a few layers of cardstock behind it before adhering it to the card.
I finished off with a few sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Fairly muted color palette for this one.
I stamped the bee on X-Press It blending card and colored it with Copics, before I used a die in the A2 Double Stitched Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to create a faux stitch border.
Onto a panel of Aqua Sky cardstock from Concord & 9th, I ink blended Aqua Sky ink through the Geometric Mosaic stencil from My Favorite Things and adhered the panel to a white card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, then mounted the panel with the bee in the center using foam tape.
I used the Sending You Hugs die from My Favorite Things to die cut the word HUGS four times. I die cut three white, one from Aqua Sky cardstock and stacked them for dimension. I used the same technique on the sending die from the Blooming Delight die set from Altenew, but switching out the color for the top die cut to Buttercup cardstock from Concord & 9th. I adhered the letters for HUGS above the bee, and the stacked sending above that, letting the s hang from the edge of the panel to break the line in the design.
I used sequins and gems from the Urban Chic mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards to embellish, and I also used my trusted black glaze pen/white Gelly Roll 05 combo for the eyes to give them a little dimension and shine.
Simple color palette for this one.
I printed my panda onto X-Press It blending card, colored him with Copics and used a black glaze pen, then a white Gelly Roll 05 to create shine and a little bit of dimension in his eyes and nose. I then used the Polaroid Shaker Frame die from My Favorite Things to create the perfect spot for him by die cutting a few layers from white cardstock and one layer from cardstock that I colored green with one of the inks in the Jade Greens family of fresh dye inks from Altenew.
Using the Leaf Clusters stamp set from Altenew, I stamped one of the leaf clusters onto my white card base with various greens to create an ombre look. I used Pistachio, Misty Sage, Mossy Meadow and Green Opal inks, all from that same Jade Greens family of Fresh dye inks. I actually stamped it twice, but the polaroid covers most of the one I stamped in the bottom left corner. I also used the inks to create a little ink splatter on the background.
I stamped a sentiment from the Leaf Clusters stamp set in Green Opal ink, cut it down to a strip and added a couple of strips behind it for strength and dimension, before finishing off the card with a visual triangle of sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
It’s no secret that I love dimension on my cards, and my three layer sentiment on top of the four layer polaroid frame add enough weight for this to require extra postage, but that’s true of most of my cards.
These pandas tend to make for some pretty simple color combos.
I colored the image with my Copics, before using the Notebook Edge die from My Favorite Things to create a fun border at the bottom. I used a black glaze pen to add shine and dimension to their eyes, then went in with a Gelly Roll 05 once the black was dry. I fussy cut around the image, and the stems of the sunflowers actually dictated the width of this card, which only measures about 3 1/4 x 4 3/4″. If you include the flowers hanging off the edge, it’s a little wider than 4 1/4″, so I might need to put it in a larger envelope.
I used the Raised Sentiments 3D embossing folder from Altenew on a piece of Harbor cardstock from Concord & 9th to create a little interest in the background, cut it down and adhered it to a top fold white card base. I mounted my colored piece on top using foam tape, I’m a big fan of dimension on cards.
I die cut one of the dies from the Blooming Delight die set from Altenew from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I cut five, put two together, and stacked the remaining three, so I had two somewhat dimensional die cuts. I die cut the shadow layer from Heavyweight Translucent Vellum from My Favorite Things, adhered the stack with 3 behind it and the stack with the 2 on top. This creates a nice shadow around the shadow die without the use of foam tape.
I white heat embossed a sentiment from the Pristine Peonies stamp set from Altenew, cut it down to a strip, added a few more strips behind it for dimension and adhered it below my die cut to complete the sentiment (the stamp actually says 
Fairly soft color palette for this one.
Enough housekeeping. I colored this cute panda and the bamboo in the background onto X-Press It blending card using Copics, before stamping a small sentiment from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Obsidian ink from Altenew.
I adhered my colored piece to a top fold white card base and used the Leafy Cover die from Mama Elephant to die cut a frame from Green Parakeet cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I strategically cut off a few leaves that did too good of a job of hiding my panda, before adhering the frame on top of the image.
I added a black glaze pen to his eyes and nose, before going in with a Gelly Roll 05 once the black was dry. I love the extra shine and dimension it adds to the image, even if it doesn’t show up in the photos. What does show up, however, is the embellishment mix. This is the Spring Leaves mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I purposefully underexposed my photo as I was taking the picture to avoid blowing out the light areas during editing. It’s a trick I learned today from Mona Tóth (@mona.toth on Instagram), and it blows my mind that willingly making the photos look dark as you shoot makes them that much better in the end – but it totally works!
I didn’t use too many Copics for this one.
I colored the image with my Copics before cutting out a couple of quick masks for the deer and bunny. I ink blended a soft blue circle behind them, using the Watercolor Circle stencil from My Favorite Things and ink (Harbor ink from Concord and 9th) that was left on my light blue blender brush from my last project. Using a die in the Additional A2 Layers die set from Waffle Flower, I cut my panel down, added four layers of cardstock behind it for dimension and put it aside while I worked on the rest of my card.
To a top fold white card base, I adhered a piece of patterned paper from the Watercolor Wash 6×6 paper pad from My Favorite Things and added my stacked panel in the center. Using a die from the Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew, I die cut for you twice from white cardstock and once from the patterned paper. I stacked the die cuts and glued my sentiment right above the deer. The green patterned paper is very soft, but by stacking the die cuts, the sentiment still stands out a little. I added a bit of black Glaze pen to the eyes and finished off the card with pearls from the Fresh Mint mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Limited color palette for this one, it came together fairly quickly.
I used the panda peeking out from behind a fence or a wall or whatever you’d like it to be, as well as the bamboo. I used the bamboo multiple times to create a “wall” of bamboo behind my panda. I created mirrored versions so they wouldn’t all look the same, and I made sure to make them different heights. I erased the bottom of the bamboo so they’d end at the horizontal lines going out from the paws of the panda. Once I printed my image, I used a 0.35 Copic multiliner to extend the horizontal lines, making it look like a wall. I colored in my image, making sure to use a couple of green combos for the bamboo leaves for a little bit of variety.
I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX Set 2 die set from My Favorite Things to create a nice faux stitch border around the edge, before adhering it to a black card base I created from True Black cardstock from Papertrey Ink. With my pink wall, I felt like I had to make a baby card, but I didn’t want to, so I opted for the black. I used the Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew to die cut my thanks word. I stacked three black die cuts for dimension and die cut the shadow from Stamper’s Select White cardstock, also from Papertrey Ink. I rarely use shadow dies, but I knew I was going to white heat emboss the rest of the sentiment, so I figured it would work. I also tend to pop up my sentiments, but actually adhered this one flat down onto the card. It still has dimension because of the stacking. I stamped and white heat embossed a sentiment from the Bitty Thanks & Gratitude stamp set from My Favorite Things, cut it down to a strip and adhered it on top of my stacked die cut. I put an extra strip behind it for a little bit of strength. I also added a black glaze pen to the eyes and nose, before going in with a white Gelly Roll 05 on top once the black was dry. This adds some shine to my little panda. I decided not to add any embellishments to this card, which is really rare for me.
Not a ton of colors used for this one. I used E81 and the blender with the tip to tip technique to color the “white” fur.
I colored my raccoon with Copics, deciding to go with a triadic color combo of primary colors for his paints and accessories. I obviously used green for the grass, but the rest of this is all red, blue and yellow. I used the second largest die in the Watercolor Rectangle STAX die set from My Favorite Things to give it a playful, loose look on the edges, then used the Say Anything stencil, also from My Favorite Things, to ink blend a speech bubble using Harvest Gold ink from Papertrey Ink.
In the speech bubble, I stamped a couple of sentiments from the Mini Messages & More stamp set from My Favorite Things, using Obsidian ink from Altenew. I took the various ink splatter stamps in the same stamp set and stamped in various colors across my panel, to amp up the crafty feel of the card. I used Watermelon, Harbor and Dove inks from Concord & 9th, as well as more of the Papertrey Ink Harvest Gold color that I used for the ink blending. Onto a card base I created from Cement Gray cardstock from My Favorite Things, I added some strips of cardstock to break the lines in my design. I used Watermelon cardstock from Concord & 9th, Blue Breeze from My Favorite Things and Harvest Gold from Papertrey Ink. I added my panel in the center using foam tape, and finished off with a few sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I actually also used a black glaze pen to create shine and a tiny bit of dimension to the eyes. On the raccoon, I also used a dot of white Gelly Roll 05 to each of the eyes once the black was dry.
I used a fairly small amount of Copics for this one.
I printed my image on a quarter sheet of X-Press It blending card and colored it in. I stamped the word friend from the Mini Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant using Obsidian ink from Altenew. The sentiment actually says hello friend across two lines, but I masked off the top row so I’d have friend isolated. I adhered my panel to a top fold card base and used a black glaze pen to add some shine and a tiny bit of dimension to the eyes of the bunnies, the girl and the cute little bird.
Onto a scrap piece of X-Press It, I scribbled RV34 across a section large enough to die cut from. The Sweet Sentiments die set from Altenew is such a great one, I love that these dies create small words that don’t take up too much real estate on a card. I backed my colored die cut with two white ones for a little bit of dimension and added it at somewhat of an angle right above the stamped part of the sentiment. This also served to cover up a booboo. Somehow, I was able to spill a tiny little drop of juice from a peach (note to self – don’t eat in the craft room), and the sentiment covers it nicely. I finished off the card with a triangle formation of sequins from the Starry Night mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Simple, subtle color palette for this one.
Papirmølla 